South Carolina baseball swept by No. 7 Georgia after late rally. 3 key takeaways

It’s something about Sundays.

Entering the series finale against the No. 7 Georgia Bulldogs, South Carolina baseball was 1-7 in the SEC, with its lone conference win coming in a Sunday contest with Arkansas. In fact, in the 11 games since SEC play began, USC’s only win had come on that Sunday against the Razorbacks.

After two lackluster performances against the Bulldogs this weekend, USC once again came out on Sunday looking like it might steal another SEC finale. Instead, the Gamecocks allowed a late rally and fell 9-6 to the Bulldogs after leading by as many as four runs.

Late-game collapse

USC (13-16, 1-8 SEC) entered the bottom of the eighth inning having just tied the game in the previous frame. If the Gamecocks could hold UGA (22-6, 7-2 SEC) scoreless one more time in a game where it had only done so twice, it would give USC an opportunity to pull ahead in the ninth and close out a victory.

Instead, the Gamecocks completely unraveled. It started with a leadoff single for the Bulldogs. Then, Jake Randolph missed diving for a line drive into shallow left-center field, which ultimately scored the go-ahead run. UGA tacked on another RBI to make it a 9-7 Bulldogs lead with three outs remaining for the Gamecocks.

“I feel terrible for Jake. I mean, I really do. We made the decision to put him out there just to try to put our best nine guys on the field and in the lineup at one time,” USC interim coach Monte Lee said of Randolph, whose natural position is catcher. “I would have loved for him to make those plays. I know he would, too. But you know, we’re not in a position to be competitive today offensively, if it’s not for Jake, so certainly don’t blame him.”

USC couldn’t do anything with its final chances of the ballgame and fell victim to its second SEC sweep this season.

Pitching struggles set up UGA rally

Brandon Stone got the nod on the pitching mound for USC and gave the Gamecocks four innings of 3-run ball before things began to come apart a bit in the fifth. UGA put two runners in scoring position on a pair of hits, prompting Lee to pull Stone from the game.

USC reliever Alex Valentin took over for the Gamecocks with one out in the bottom fifth. Without much winning for USC since conference play began, it was the first high-leverage situation he’d pitched in some time. But as USC’s usual closer, he also had quite a few more innings left in the game than he’s typically faced.

“​​I thought Brandon kept us in the game. The biggest decision was, when do we go to Alex. Tried to keep Brandon in there. He wanted the ball, tried to keep him in there as long as we could, but he ran into some trouble,” Lee said.

It wasn’t the typical shutdown outing USC has come to expect from Valentin when the Gamecocks need him. Catcher Talmadge LeCroy allowed one of Valentin’s pitches to get away from him, scoring the runner from third. Valentin then took issue with something UGA batter Bryce Calloway was doing in the box, and Valentin was dinged with a balk when he tried to step off and plead his case.

After the confusion, Valentin walked the bases loaded. The Gamecock infield picked up their teammate and turned a double play to end the fifth inning up 6-4, avoiding potential disaster with the go-ahead run standing at first for UGA. Valentin came out again for the sixth inning but was pulled for Parker Marlatt after giving up a leadoff walk.

“He stepped off, which it should have been a reset on the pitch clock. They didn’t reset the clock, so they initially awarded the batter a ball, which would have been ball four, but then when the umpires got together, they said, ‘Hey, look, he stepped off.’ That’s a reset, so it’s not a pitch. So that’s what he was arguing,” Lee said.

Marlatt gave up a single and hit a batter, loading the bases with one out and putting the go-ahead run at first once more. UGA scored the tying runs on an 2-RBI single the following at-bat. Marlatt let up another RBI single to give UGA a 7-6 lead.

Fortunately for USC’s pitching staff, the Gamecock bats were as hot Sunday as they were all weekend. Randolph hit a game-tying home run in the eighth inning. It wasn’t enough as UGA continued to roll at the plate and eventually pulled ahead for the win.

Gamecock bats come alive

USC had struggled at the plate against UGA all weekend.

Even after the Gamecocks outhit Georgia 5-4 on Friday and drew seven walks on Saturday, they combined for three runs and 21 batters left stranded in the first two games of the series.

The bats finally got going for USC on Sunday. The Gamecocks opened up the game with a two-hit, two-run first inning and forced UGA coach Wes Johnson to pull Sunday starting pitcher Kenny Ishikawa one inning into his outing. The Bulldogs responded with two runs of their own, but the Gamecocks added two more runs in the second inning for a 4-2 lead with the help of a solo home run from third baseman Patrick Evans.

“We pulled the position players together when we got off the bus after yesterday’s game and met with them and just kind of had a conversation about what I’m seeing and how I’m feeling, and wanted them to give some input as well,” Lee said. “We came up with a little bit of a different plan for today with the guys. Not necessarily one that was all that different than what we were doing in the past, just trying to create more of a clear identity that we want out of the offense, and I thought the guys did a great job of it today. We’ve just got to carry it forward.”

UGA pulled reliever Grant Edwards for usual Saturday starter Dylan Vigue, who’d been knocked out of yesterday’s game just one out into the first inning. He settled in on Sunday and got UGA out of the second inning without letting up any additional runs.

Vigue made it two innings before an RBI single from Talmadge Lecroy gave USC a 5-2 lead in the fourth inning. Vigue was pulled for right-handed senior Caden Aoki. He gave USC a 6-2 lead on an RBI double from KJ Scobey before getting out of the inning.

Seven Gamecocks recorded hits on Sunday, and five USC players recorded multiple hits.

South Carolina baseball upcoming schedule

• Tuesday: vs. Wofford, 6:30 p.m. (SEC Network Plus)
• Thursday, April 2: vs. Texas, 7 p.m. (SEC Network)
• Friday, April 3: vs. Texas, 7 p.m. (SEC Network Plus)
• Saturday: April 4: vs. Texas, 2 p.m. (SEC Network Plus)

This story was originally published March 29, 2026 at 5:24 PM.